Cable's Business Bank could provide welcome boost in funding

Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, has been unveiling more details about the government-backed Business Bank which is due to come online halfway through next year.

As part of its attempts to increase funding to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, the Business Bank will manage £2.9bn worth of existing Government debt and equity schemes designed to ease access to finance, and a further £1bn is to be set aside to boost sectors such as non-bank lending.

As the UK’s leading independent invoice finance provider, we think this is welcome news and we will be proactively looking at ways Bibby Financial Services can take advantage of this extra funding in order to pass it on to businesses looking for flexible finance solutions.

It is also welcome news that the Government is recognising the role played by non-bank lenders in supporting SMEs which are looking to grow and fund their businesses to help drive the wider UK economic recovery.

In 2012 we provided £340million in funding to businesses in the UK, safeguarding jobs, helping to fund new businesses and backing entrepreneurship. In 2013 we are looking to increase that even further as more businesses are realising the value of taking on a facility such as invoice finance.

The prospect of extra funds being made available in this way by the Government will support our aspiration as a provider to support record numbers of SMEs over the coming years.